Like other reviewers, I noted a sour characteristic. Unlike some other brewers, I found this flavor to be revolting, along with several other characteristics of this beer, such as it's appearance. I would suspect that this bottle was old, but I bought it in Ohio, not that far from Cincinnatti, the bottle looked to be in good condition, and other reviewers have noted the same characteristics. In addition, this bottle had no date code, so I'm left to assume that it is fresh from the brewery and should be rated as such. Let me spell out the source of my objections about this beer:

Appearance - looked like a hazy iced tea. Very little head, weird inconsistent haze in the glass. No floaties, but when that's the nicest thing you can say about a beer...

Aroma - is sour...maybe apples? It had almost a Berlinerweisse characteristic that totally didn't belong in this beer.

Flavor - is pretty awful. More sourness backed by some grainy maltiness. Maybe a heavy dose of isoamyl acetate thrown in? This stuff is pretty rancid.

Palate - when appearance, aroma, and flavor stinks, who cares about mouthfeel? This stuff could feel like a Swedish massage, but the way it tastes, I still wouldn't drink it.

This beer is pretty awful. Weird fruity sour notes in a red/amber ale? Awful weird appearance? Equals drain pour in my book. I picked it up because it was an inexpensive bomber from a brewer I was unfamiliar with. WIth this beer as my first contact, I will not be seeking out the Barrel House for any other beers in the future.

Nice scent of some amber spices here.
Pours a shallow orange with hazy white head.
A bit sour tasting, it's very interesting. From the smell I would have expected maybe a citrus/spice taste. Maybe something lightly malted, and it's there but not promenatly. The soury taste is odd.
One of the more interesting, locally available ambers. Solid Barrel House.

Pours a foggy brown/orange with a ridiculous crème head at first that thankfully doesn't take too long in falling. Nose is like apple juice. But not the good kind of apple juice. It's like that nasty watered down apple juice you'd get from daycare of Sunday school or something lame like that. Flavor is kind of the same actually. Tart apple tones with a bite on the back I'm not appreciating. Seems way out of whack. And nowhere near being an amber I have to say. Feel is typical on liquid. Carbonation is nice enough. This is no amber. No way. It's an okay beer to drink, but I'm not sure what happened here.

Pretty surprised by some of the reviews for this beer that describe any taste of hoppiness, because I certainly wasn't detecting any.

Of note: I have had bottles of this on two separate occasions and both were way overcarbonated, taking 5 minutes or so to pour and wait for foam heads to go down.

What I tasted: Sweetness. Sugariest-tasting beer I think I've ever drank. And in a very weird way. For a while I convinced myself that it tasted like a caramel apple, but I grew to think it was more of a chocolate taste, like hershey's syrup. I would expect a lot of people not to like that, but I did.

Whenever I want a really sugary, sweet brew that tastes like candy...this is what I'd turn to.

I was disappointed with this beer, especially since I'm a fan of the brewery and a die-hard promoter of the Cincinnati brewing tradition. The color is that of a typical red ale, but the head is not particularly impressive. Slightly tangy nose, with a very tangy, sour, almost lactic taste on the palate. The finish is still dominated by the tartness, so much that even the refreshing carbonated mouthfeel leave you wondering if this beer is a bit acidified. I'll try again with a later batch.

Pours a reddish brown in color with a nice two inches of head on the pour. Smell is slightly hoppy. There is a lot of roasted caramel malt in the flavor. Also accompanied by a good amount of piney hops. This turned out to be more hoppy than I was expecting. And it works. Another decent beer from Barrel House. They're not setting the world on fire, but starting to put out consistently drinkable beer.

Amber Ale, 4.9% ABV brewed by some good folks down in Southern Ohio. Barrel House recently started bottling four of their beers for distribution. Enjoyed this fine amber with a homemade pizza. Mellow malty aroma with a light hoppiness and mild sweetness. Good pour, amber color with a generous and very creamy swirling head. Easy on the palate and exceptionally smooth. Flavor was well received, easy to drink. Good blend of malts and hops, medium bodied. This is a very good example of a well crafted amber ale.

This is an up-date for my first time on-tap. Much better in my opinion. I rarely come back to a beer review just for the delivery method.

Fresh, clean, crisp, smooth and drinkable. I was on vacation and this dark red-leg with a slight tan head was the first craft offering for miles in the sea of macro's. It was like, welcome home for the taste buds!

T-Started off with a little lemon flavor that faded into some chewiness quite soon, followed by a slightly dry finish with both light hops and citrus, not much going on with the taste and only got worse and it warmed, almost unbearable as it gets a little syrupy sweet, would have liked to see a more aggressive hop profile and some other complexity, boring and weak in my opinion

M-Slightly hoppy, sweet, and faintly citrus-like mouthfeel, could have definitely used some more carbonation as it was pretty flat, taste did not longer long, thin to medium body

D-Could drink a lot of this stuff if it tasted good because it is only four percent and light on the stomach, not very smooth though and very tiresome

Never heard of this beer or even the brewery for that matter, not a big fan of red ales and this is no exception, although this one was even worse than others I have had in the past, too sweet and fruity for its style, would not drink again, cannot recommend it either

Eye: Quite nice in color, translucent red with orange and yellow hues in there as well. Head formed nicely but then rapidly fell to little more than a film, lacing is poor. Were this poured into a glass at a bar it would look good, however, here at home, with a clean glass, I am relatively unimpressed.

Nose: Nice big sweet malty nose fruitiness and some slight chocolate notes and caramel. Also some cooked vegetables, not very pleasing to the nose overall. Were it not for this vegetal aroma I"m getting it would be very nice in the nose, kind of like tootsie rolls but with faint vegetables under it....perhaps its just me? Seems to only be captured in the head, once drinking commences and head falls the aroma vanishes in a logarithmic pattern. Seems a bit weaker once I start drinking though it also seems to come back from time to time.

Tongue: Light overall, just not quite there especially in mouthfeel, quite thin and water, very little carbonation. Reminds me of drinking cola going flat, or a concoction of vanilla and coke-not vanilla coke. Light sweetness and chocolate play on the tongue. The aroma is much more intense than the taste, giving one a false sense of anticipated flavor. No noticeable hop flavor, maybe bitterness just for balance.. though it is not really noticeable, plus the beer is on the sweet side as it is. No off flavors as found in the aroma. Nothing stands out seems, pretty average.

Mouthfeel and Drinkability: See above for mouthfeel. This isn't one that I'd be too excited to drink again, though I think I'll give it another go just to try and prove my olfactory senses wrong with the vegetal aroma. In my opinion, this is on the lower end of the Barrel House line, my least favorite, the one that sucks the most. Overall, I think that this brew is weak. It might be worth a try but I really don't see myself buying it again(with the exception to find out if I had a bad bottle/batch or if it is really vegetal to my nose). Don't judge Barrel Hose by this beer.

Poured from a 22oz bomber and served in a shaker. This beer poured a cloudy, dark amber with a thin head of beige foam that quickly faded away. No lace. The aroma of the beer was made up of caramel, iced tea, and some mild citrus hops. The flavor consisted of toasted caramel, orange, and light pine. The mouthfeel was medium-bodied with light carbonation. Just another middle of the road amber.

Pours a lightly hazy red color with a tan head that falls quickly to a ring, not much lace on this one.

Aroma is malty munich malts that smell buttery and lightly fruity almost a strong maranz like aroma with some earthy note. Aroma is little strang not your typical red here.

Taste is wow this is different biscuity malty with hints of Flanders red here not quite sour like a Flanders but heading that way. Some earthy hops in the finish but light at best. Over all not a normal red or what I was expecting as I love a good amber ale.

Mouthfeel is light side of medium not much body clean finish light carbonation or medium but mouthfeel makes carbonation seem more mellow then it is.

Drinkability is strange not a normal amber here more like half amber half Flanders red, not bad per say not pouring it down the drain, but would want another one either. Any how want to thank merlin48 for yet another brew I wouldn't normally get to sample.

Toasty melanoidin rich munich malt is front and center with the hops nearly nonexistant. Big off-white head quickly falls to a healthy layer of fluff with remnants of past glories clinging to the sides. The beer is a clear coppery amber, ambery copper, whatever.

Back in the aroma I am digging the rich toasty bready stuff. I get some cinnamon. It seems like I usually do with munich.

Flavor is tarttarttart!!! What the hell??!!! Almost sweettart kinda tart. Only I'm sure this isn't supposed to be some sort of style-pushing "wild ale" here. there is a bit of the aroma's promise for maybe a quarter second, then, "wham!" Tart! Ok, it's not Rodenbach sour or anything, but when you're not expecting it...

Oddly enough, I keep going back. Mouthfeel is nice and full. Palate coating and no astringency. Carbonation is a little low. I would imagine that if the flavor held to the aroma this would be a nice red ale that i could drink a ton of, but this one just isn't right.

22oz bomber poured into a .5 liter Stone Ruination mug. The beer pours a nice crisp light copper with a decent frothy head that slowly diminishes to a thin ring and leaves no lacing. Aroma is dominated by deep caramel with just a hint of earthy hops. The taste is an interesting blend of sweet caramel and earthy hops with just a hint of toffee and molasses. The beer is light bodied and smooth with moderate carbonation. This is certainly an interesting beer, one that would make for a great session with that much taste at such a low ABV.

Bomber bottle, no freshness information being offered here. Pours slightly reddish amber, a LONG lasting creamy, tan head keeps it up, over alot of rising tiny bubbles. Sweet, malty nose, hints of cherries, wood, sweet malts...too sweet, too highly carbonated. I could see using this one as a sweet marinade, but not for much else. Pass this one by.

22 oz bomber. The brew pours a very solid deep tea color with a massive off-white head that falls slowly to a full finger over top. The clarity is modest and there is a very weak carbonation running though this one. The aroma is very orange citrusy with a small phenolic quality in there. The malt is only found as a weak grainyness behind the aromas previously mentioned. That orange is way too dominant for this brew. The flavor is better. I get a moderate breadyness, with a mold toasted character, with a orange sweetness that plays throughout the flavor. There is a very mild kiss of bitterness on the finish. Not too bad. Moutfeel is moderate with a mild, but lightly biting carbonation. This one is okay. The aroma really puts me off, but it comes back strong with the flavor. The alcohol is actually a little hot in this one, even though it is very low ABV. It is giving me a little born in my stomach. I think I might choose something else before I have this again.

T- buttery dark red dried fruit, mineral water, creamy maltiness then after you swallow there's a cocoa mocha-chino flavor that hits you. toasty like prunes dates and figs sauteed in butter & brown sugar. some earthy herbal hops & honey but definitely on the malt side of the scale.

*in appearance, smell, and taste, this beer is very similar to chimay red label but without its depth and complex character.

MF- silky smooth and syrupy, the light carbonation complements its creaminess and ups the drinkability.

D- the problem for me is that this beer is so similar to chimay premier, but so inferior in comparison. don't get me wrong, its a great (though unusual) red ale, but its almost like i'm drinking a clone and i can't dig it. it's easy to drink with low ABV but i want a beer that has its own taste, not someone else's.